Macro-network location determination, local-oscillator stabilization, and frame-start synchronization based on nearby FM radio signals

• US 8,503,368 B2
• Filed: 02/08/2011
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Clearwire Ip Holdings LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Clearwire Ip Holdings LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Rausch, Walter, Satapathy, Durga
• Primary Examiner(s): Lai, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ganguly, Sumitra
• Application Number:
  US13/023,269
• Publication Number:
  US 20120201195A1
• Time in Patent Office: 910 Days
• Field of Search: 370/328, 370/254, 370/255
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0242 Determining the position of transmitters to be subsequently used in positioning G01S5/0289 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/08 Position of single direction-finder fixed by determining direction of a plurality of spaced sources of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/002 Mutual synchronization
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0045 compensating for timing error by altering transmission time
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/005 compensating for timing error by adjustment in the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

Exemplary methods and systems may generally be implemented to allow a macro-network base station without access to a GPS reference signal to provide some or all of the functionality for which existing macro-network base stations typically rely on GPS. In a first aspect, an exemplary macro-network base station may determine its location using a location-determination technique that is based upon the angles of arrival of FM radio signals from nearby FM stations. In a second aspect, an exemplary macro-network base station may stabilize its local oscillator by phase-locking its local oscillator to an FM radio signal, and periodically adjusting its local oscillator to account for phase drift of the FM radio signal. And in a third aspect, an exemplary macro-network base station may synchronize its frame-start timing with a nearby base station using a frame-start timing signal that the base station has synchronized to frame transmissions from the nearby base station during a setup routine.

Claims

1. A method carried out by a base station, wherein the base station provides service in a coverage area of a macro network, and wherein the base station is located within a given telecommunications market, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of FM radio signals, wherein each of the FM radio signals is broadcast at a certain broadcast frequency by an FM radio station in the given telecommunications market;

for each received FM radio signal, determining an angle of arrival of the FM radio signal at the base station;

sending a location request to a network operations center, wherein the location request comprises the broadcast frequency and the determined angle of arrival for each of the FM radio signals; and

receiving a response to the location request from the network operations center, wherein the response indicates a geographic location of the base station, and wherein the broadcast frequency and the determined angle of arrival for each of the FM radio signals are both used as a basis to determine the geographic location of the base station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a second base station carries out the method, the method further comprising receiving a signal, by the second base station, from a first base station in the macro network, wherein the signal is transmitted by the first base station at a given transmit frequency and comprises an identifier of the first base station, wherein the location request further comprises an indication of the transmit frequency and the identifier of the first base station, and wherein the indication of the transmit frequency and the identifier of the first base station are both used by the network operations center as a further basis to determine the geographic location of the second base station.

3. A location-determination method carried out by at least one entity in a core network, wherein the core network supports a macro network that provides service in a coverage area, and wherein the coverage area overlaps with one or more telecommunications markets, the method comprising:

receiving a location request from a base station in the macro network, wherein the location request comprises;

(a) a plurality of FM-station identifiers, wherein each FM-station identifier corresponds to an FM radio station, and (b) for each FM-station identifier, an angle of arrival at the base station of an FM radio signal that is broadcast by the identified FM radio station;

determining a set of potential markets that comprises one or more telecommunications markets, wherein each potential market includes an FM radio station corresponding to each of the FM-station identifiers;

iteratively applying a triangulation routine to the set of potential markets until an application of the trilateration routine in one of the potential markets produces a valid crossing point, wherein the triangulation routine is based at least in part on (a) geographic locations of FM radio stations that broadcast at the reported broadcast frequencies in the given potential market and (b) the reported angles of arrival at the base station; and

setting the valid crossing point as the geographic location of the base station.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a network operations center in the core network of a server provider is the entity that carries out the method.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein each FM-station identifier comprises an indication of a broadcast frequency for the corresponding FM radio station.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the set of potential markets comprises:

determining which telecommunication markets include FM radio stations at all of the indicated broadcast frequencies; and

identifying each telecommunication market that includes FM radio stations at all of the indicated broadcast frequencies as a potential market.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the location request is received from a second base station, and wherein the location request further comprises identifier information for a first base station, and wherein the method further comprises using the identifier information for the first base station as a further basis for determining the set of potential markets.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein using the identifier information for the first base station as a further basis for determining the set of potential markets comprises:

determining one or more telecommunication markets in which a base station having the identifier information is located; and

identifying, as a potential market, each telecommunication market in which a base station having the identifier information is located.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the identifier information comprises at least one of (a) an identifier of a first base station and (b) a transmission frequency of the first base station.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein the location request is received from a second base station, and wherein the location request further comprises identifier information for a first base station, and wherein the method further comprises:

using the identifier information for the first base station as a basis for determining a location of the second base station in the telecommunication market in which the valid crossing point was produced; and

before setting the valid crossing point as the geographic location of the second base station, verifying that the valid crossing point is within a broadcast range from the location of the first base station.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising sending an indication of the geographic location of the second base station to the second base station.

12. A core-network component, wherein the core network supports a macro network that provides service in a coverage area, and wherein the coverage area overlaps with one or more telecommunications markets, comprising:

a non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium;

program instructions stored on the non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause the core-network entity to;

(i) receive a location request from a base station in the macro network, wherein the location request comprises;

(a) a plurality of FM-station identifiers, wherein each FM-station identifier corresponds to an FM radio station, and (b) for each FM-station identifier, an angle of arrival at the base station of an FM radio signal that is broadcast by the identified FM radio station;

(ii) determine a set of potential markets that comprises one or more telecommunications markets, wherein each potential market includes an FM radio station corresponding to each of the FM-station identifiers;

(iii) iteratively apply a triangulation routine to the set of potential markets until an application of the trilateration routine in one of the potential markets produces a valid crossing point, wherein the triangulation routine is based at least in part on (a) geographic locations of FM stations that broadcast at the reported broadcast frequencies in the given potential market and (b) the reported angles of arrival at the base station; and

(iv) set the valid crossing point as the geographic location of the base station.

13. The core-network component of claim 12, wherein the core-network component is a network operations center.

14. The core-network component of claim 12, wherein the program instructions stored on the non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause the core-network entity to determine the set of potential markets comprise program instructions stored on the non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause the core-network entity to:

determine which telecommunication markets include FM radio stations at all of the indicated broadcast frequencies; and

identify each market that includes FM radio stations at all of the indicated broadcast frequencies as a potential market.

15. The core-network component of claim 12, wherein the location request is received from a second base station, and wherein the location request further comprises identifier information for a first base station, wherein the identifier information for the first base station is used as a further basis for determining the set of potential markets.

16. The core-network component of claim 15, wherein the program instructions stored on the non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause the core-network entity to determine the set of potential markets comprise program instructions stored on the non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause the core-network entity to:

determine one or more telecommunication markets in which a base station having the identifier information is located; and

identify as a potential market each telecommunication market in which a base station having the identifier information is located.

17. The core-network component of claim 12, wherein the location request is received from a second base station, and wherein the location request further comprises identifier information for a first base station, and wherein the core-network component further comprises program instructions stored on the non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause the core-network entity to:

use the identifier information for the first base station as a basis to determine a location of the second base station in the telecommunication market in which the valid crossing point was produced; and

before setting the valid crossing point as the geographic location of the second base station, verify that the valid crossing point is within a broadcast range from the location of the first base station.